12.02.2012

Yes, I Really Liked the Old Google Reader That Much

So we have to start with the arrogant presupposition that anyone is missing new posts here. Now that we have that covered, whether it's true or not, I can get into why. I'm going to focus on technology and not on the whole "when I started I was a student and now I have a demanding full time job" thing. (Also, Pinterest exists. Rabbit hole, you guys, amirite...)

Let's talk about the death of Google Reader. Google Reader was the way that at one point I kept up with over 80 blogs I wanted to read: what was going on in DC, new restaurants, some people I knew doing awesome stuff, recipes, etc. I organized favorite posts with recipes and ideas with labels like "jewish holidays," "vegetarian," "entertaining," and many many more. But more than just a feed aggregator, Google Reader was a place to share to a very tightly controlled group. I maybe had 20 people (and I knew them all IRL, or In Real Life) that were part of my "Google Reader Sharing" group, and when I read a post I wanted them to see, I shared it. Not to all 400 or so Facebook friends who I mostly never talk to or see, not to hundreds of accounts (active and non) of people and companies on Twitter, just a handful of people who appreciate reading blogs the way that I do, and could pick a few good posts to share with me daily, and who could read the ones I shared and make a few comments. The loss of Google Reader was truly devastating to me. I know that sounds dramatic, but it was how I organized my internet for quite a while.

Obviously technology has changed a lot (for the better). When I started this blog, I didn't have an iPhone (actually I didn't have a smart phone until 2010 because student loans aren't for paying big cell bills, right, college aged people??). It used to make sense to take pictures with my point and shoot camera, plug that in to my laptop, upload them, save them in a place where I could find them from dumb Blogger platform, and upload them into a post. Now that entire endeavor seems antiquated.

I'm not a huge fan of redundancy. Of course I would watch Pretty Woman on a weekly basis, but what I mean is that if I Like you on Facebook (or we're Friends), and I have your blog in my Google Reader, and I follow you on Twitter and you tweet your posts, and I follow you on Instagram and you post fun pictures (otherwise why would I follow you!), and then you Pin the thing you saw that you want, I'm getting a lot of repetition.

So for me it started looking like:

DC2ALB on Twitter: Off to City Beer Hall for brunch, man I love that place.DC2ALB on Instagram: Pic of awesome beet/arugula/gorgonzola salad with over-easy eggs on top + an oatmeal stoutDC2ALB on Pinterest: Pic of City Beer Hall on a board named something like "eats."*DC2ALB on Ravelry: I'm totes going to knit a blanket that looks like City Beer Hall.*

[*Full disclosure, these last two never happened.]

Me, at home: Should I blog City Beer Hall brunch? I mean...why?

If I'm bored by the same, and have been gradually unsubscribing from blogs for that reason, I assume you have been too. Even without assuming our similarity in that respect, I am too bored of myself to even write the offending redundant post. And I have some etiquette questions, like if you share your Instagram to Facebook, should I Like or Heart them on the other platform? Comment on both? What's the deal with that?

I have some friends and family whose posts I so look forward to (and will probably start just getting emailed to me), recipes I always read, and local happenings to find out about. But as more and more blogs switched to the whole "click here to read on" and "after the jump" situations, the convenience of Google Reader started to fade. If I can read maybe 2 or 3 lines, not enough to get the pertinent information to see if I even WANT to click into a whole.new.window(or.tab), then I'm just annoyed.

3 comments:

If it weren't for Google Reader, I may have missed it. ;^) But I neither Instagram or Pinterest, and I'm probably the world's worst Tweeter. Every day I'm amazed that people haven't totally abandoned me on that platform. Crazy.

About Me

We lived, ate, and blogged around the DC area as iEatDC for three and a half years. Now we've moved, but the eating will. not. stop. Ever. We're looking forward to exploring locally and beyond, and we'll continue to share the only subject we know pretty well: what we like.